


Valiant

by JCapasso



Series: The Void [3]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28777608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: A thousand years after the Void was settled by the refugees from Earth, one of the many villages in the south is threatened by the spiders encroachment on their land and they won't hold out much longer. One brave young villager makes a pilgrimage to the north to find their gods, the all-father Duke, the great mother Audrey, and their children, to plead for help.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker
Series: The Void [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105556
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

A Thousand Years Later:

Dinah slipped into the back of the temple while the high priestess was running an introductory class for the children and leaned against the wall to wait until they were finished. The priestess pointed to the depiction of a young, tall, broad-shouldered man who had long dark hair tied back, holding a long spear against a bear five times his size. “The all-father Duke. God of strength and perseverance. The great protector,” she told them. She next pointed to a young beautiful woman, long blonde hair in rows of braids, sitting atop a horse much taller than she was with a bow in her hand, arrow drawn back, taking aim at something out of frame. “The great mother Audrey. Goddess of nurture and the hunt.” She moved to another depiction of the two of them standing on the bow of a ship, facing each other with hands clasped and looking into each other’s eyes. “The original lovers, gods of land and sea.” 

The priestess moved down the line to the next depiction. An even younger man and woman, barely out of childhood, both riding atop white lynxes. The blonde haired boy with his long hair pulled back and the darkhaired girl, hair in rows of braids, were clearly laughing in the image and gave a feeling of great joy to all the watchers. “The twins Nathan and Gloria. Nathan the great teacher, god of knowledge and wisdom. Gloria the great craftsman, goddess of creativity and ingenuity atop their eternal companions, Hercules and Sheba,” she explained to the enraptured children. “When our ancestors came to this world, fleeing from a world of nightmares, they came tired, sick, and hungry. They would not have survived much longer before the gods found them. They took us in. Fed us. Nurtured us. Taught us to live in harmony with the land.”

The priestess paused as she moved on to another of the many scenes that dominated the temple walls and continued the story. “The Gods protected us from the dangers of the world and taught us to protect ourselves. They took in our orphans until we were strong enough to care for them ourselves. They taught us to hunt and grow food, taking no more than we need. They taught us to use each part of their gifts to us, from the sinew to the bones, and leave no waste. To live in balance with nature and respect and nurture it as it nurtures us.” 

“The spiders don’t nurture us,” one of the children grumbled and Dinah gave an amused smile, knowing the answer to that statement as well as any priestess. It was true that the spiders had become far more of a threat than a nuisance lately which was why she was here in the first place. 

“Oh but they do, little one,” the priestess told him. “Their silk provides our clothes. Their meat provides our food. Their exoskeletons provide our armor. Instead of seeing them as the enemy, perhaps you should begin to ask how we’ve angered them to cause their attacks and incursions in recent days,” she chided gently, getting a sheepish nod from the boy. “They helped to build the first settlement on this world, aptly named Haven far in the north before our people began to travel south to avoid the harsh winters.” She showed an image of the four of them helping to build homes and buildings, assisted by blurry non-descript people. 

“As our people grew in number, they too had more children to care for us,” the priestess continued moving to an image of a boy with short dark hair sitting in the lotus position in a field of flowers with his eyes closed. “Dylan the pacifist. God of peace and harmony,” she explained before moving on. “Sarah the compassionate. Goddess of medicine and healing,” she indicated an image of a blonde girl, hair in one long braid caring for a wounded horse that was laying on the ground. “Lucy the just. Goddess of justice and mercy.” The depiction showed a girl with flowing black hair restraining a man who was clearly trying to get to a boy laying on the ground. “Wade the bard. God of music and art.” The image showed a boy with long blonde hair tied back holding a stringed instrument in one hand and a paintbrush in the other with a canvas in front of him. “And Caspian of the water. God of the sea and the storms.” The image showed a dark haired boy with his long hair tied back standing on the bow of a ship in a storm with a trident in his hand. 

“We will learn more about them in future lessons. They all live with their parents in Eden,” she moved on to yet another intricate painting showing a peaceful clearing, mostly filled with wheat save for a small garden of other vegetables. There was a large lake in the center surrounded by trees and bushes, most of them bearing fruits and berries, but some with neither and instead had long vinelike branches that hung down in curtains. On one side of the lake was a large, beautiful, log house, and along the back edge of the clearing another row of houses. “The all-father and great mother, Duke and Audrey live in the center house while their children live in the houses here,” she pointed them out. “The horses here are the guardians of Eden and let none enter if they are unworthy.” 

Once class was dismissed, Dinah waited until the children filed out to approach the priestess who gave her a warm smile. “Here to brush up on your history?” she joked. She knew that Dinah was one of the most devout outside of the priesthood and often wondered if she should have become a priestess, but music was her true passion. 

“No, actually. I wondered if you could tell me how to find Eden?” Dinah asked hopefully. 

“Why?” the priestess asked, both confused and worried. 

“I know you don’t get out of the temple much, but you must have heard how the spiders have been terrorizing the village. No one can figure out how to appease them. Only the gods can help us now,” Dinah told her. 

“So you intend to make the pilgrimage? You know how difficult and dangerous the road is and there is no guarantee you will find what you seek,” the priestess said more than a little afraid for her friend. She knew that Dinah tended to think of the gods more as normal people than gods, despite the depth of her faith. She feared that they would take offense.

“I know, but I don’t know any other way,” she said desperately. 

“I know you lost your sister in the incursion a few days ago, but don’t let your grief push you into a hasty decision,” the priestess said gently. 

“It’s not hasty,” Dinah told her. “I feel like I’m being called there. Like I /have/ to go.”

“Okay then,” she sighed with a grave nod. A calling was something far different. “Legend says that you have to go to the sea and then head north for many weeks. You will see the docks that hold the all-father’s ship when he is in port and rarely Caspian’s ship as well. Then you will turn inland forty degrees and walk straight through to Eden.” It had been many generations since she’d heard of anyone attempting the pilgrimage and that person hadn’t returned. In fact of the twelve recorded pilgrimages, none had ever returned. 

“Thank you,” Dinah told her gratefully. 

“Make sure you plan well,” she all but begged her friend. “You will not be able to get a cart through the sand and there is little fresh water along the way. I know you’re good with a bow and spear, but at least take a guard escort as far as the beach.”

“I will,” she assured her, pulling her into a warm hug. “I’ll be okay. I can feel it.” 

“I hope you’re right,” the priestess said, hugging her back. 

“You just have to have faith,” Dinah teased cheekily, pulling a laugh from her oldest friend before she left to get ready for her journey. 

Dinah packed mostly dried jerky for the trip. It packed enough nutrients for her to survive and took up far less space than anything else she could take. She would still have to ration though. That filled up her side pack and then she took an entire barrel of water, using one with back straps and a sealed lid. If she could get lucky enough to get a few good rains, it might last the journey if she was careful. It was the end of summer so she wouldn’t need to worry about the cold. She should arrive before winter set in and then she would either get help or she would die anyway so there was no need to waste packing space with heavier clothes. The only other things she took were her weapons. Her smaller bow with the metal tipped arrows and the spear with the same metal tip. Perhaps she could find some bats in caves to eat along the way. 

She set out on foot three days later, with a group of the guard escorting her as far as the ocean and from there she was on her own. They were kind enough to share their water during the four day journey so that she wouldn’t have to use hers until she needed to. They had a great deal of respect for what she was trying to do and the courage it took to do it. Before they parted ways to head back to the village, they sincerely wished her luck, despite suspecting they would never see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinah felt the tears streaming down her cheeks as she saw the dock and the ship there meaning that the all-father was in port. The journey had taken longer than she’d suspected and she’d run out of water a day ago even with the multiple rainstorms she’d suffered through, only able to find shelter through some of them. She’d run out of food three days ago, even with the bats she’d supplemented with. To make matters worse, she was freezing. It wasn’t quite winter yet, but she hadn’t realized how cold it was this far north even in the fall. That ship though meant that her journey was nearly over. She was almost there. She would either find help or she would be found unworthy and turned away to die. She calculated the direction she would need to travel and began to walk, still carrying the empty barrel which her equally empty bag was inside. If she was lucky enough to catch another rainstorm she could get some more water. 

She had no idea how long she walked. In her exhausted and weakened state ten minutes would have felt like forever but then she could see it. Eden just opened up in front of her just like the paintings showed. There were a few more houses and the garden was bigger, but then the entire clearing seemed a little bigger. She only got a glimpse of it though before a large horse was standing in her path. She took a few respectful steps back and bowed. “I mean no harm. I come in peace to beseech help from the great Duke and Audrey,” she said solemnly. 

The horse scrutinized her for a moment before stepping aside and she followed it into the clearing, heart leaping for joy as it led her to the garden where she could see a group of people working. The gods. They were actually here. The one she recognized as Duke from the ancient paintings was the first to notice her and dropped his tool and rushed over, followed quickly by Audrey. 

Duke noticed the young woman staggering into the clearing, weighted down by a heavy barrel on her back and barely wearing anything even in this cold. He dropped his hoe and rushed over, pulling off his lynxhide cloak along the way. Audrey had been right behind him and helped the girl out of the barrel on her back while Duke wrapped his cloak around her freezing shoulders. “Are you alright?” Audrey asked gently as Duke’s warm arm around Dinah’s shoulder led her towards the house. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” 

“Yes, please,” Dinah croaked out as she was maneuvered to sit at a beautifully crafted table. She was able to see why they were the all-father and great mother. She had never felt as safe as she had wrapped in the god’s arms or as loved as when the goddess cared for her. Audrey first filled a cup with water and handed it to her before grabbing some bread and spreading some butter on it while Duke got her a bowl of stew leftover from lunch. They usually tried to keep at least a little bit warmed all the time in case anyone got hungry for a snack, and it came in handy now. Dinah immediately drank the entire cup of water to soothe her parched throat. “Thank you,” she breathed out before taking a bite of the bread and her eyes widened. She’d never tasted anything like it. They had bread at home of course, but whatever spread was on it must surely be a treat of the gods. “This is wonderful.” 

Duke and Audrey both smiled amusedly while Duke put on another large pot filled with water to boil. Once she was fed and watered, she looked like she needed to clean up and they had long figured out a bathtub system that involved filling it up with water from the lake…or from snow…and adding a large pot of boiling water for warmth and then draining it through a hole in the floor afterwards. “Where do you come from?” Duke asked curiously, deciding to wait to get to the reason for her visit until she was more stable. 

“From the far south. A village called Inara,” she told them. 

“That must have been a long journey,” Audrey said sympathetically. 

“An entire moon cycle,” Dinah said with a nod between bites. “I followed the path of the ancient texts, up the coast until I saw the dock and then inland to Eden.” 

“Eden?” Duke asked, lips twitching in an amused smile. He supposed it was fitting in a way. This clearing was pretty close to paradise and the first settled place on this world. 

“That’s what we call the home of the gods. Is there something else you prefer it to be called?” Dinah asked. 

“Gods?” Duke almost choked at the implication and they were both torn between laughter and horror. 

“Yes, the all-father Duke and great mother Audrey and their children Nathan the teacher, Gloria the craftsman, Dylan…”

“Yeah, okay,” Audrey interrupted the recitation with a chuckle. “But we’re not gods. We’re just people like you.” 

“You’re immortal, right?” she asked. 

“Well…yeah, but…” Duke protested.

“And you lived here before our people did?” 

“Not for /that/ long,” Audrey clarified. 

“And you saved our ancestors and taught them to survive and build and create?” Dinah asked. 

“Of course, but…” Duke tried again to protest. 

“And that’s why our people worship you,” Dinah shrugged. She knew that she would have been taken to task by most of her people for daring to interrupt a god when they were speaking, but she had never been like everyone else. Their protest that they weren’t gods had validated her belief that, despite their power and immortality, deep down they were just like regular people and she resolved to treat them as such. 

“Why would they think we /want/ to be worshipped?” Duke asked distastefully. 

Dinah shrugged again. “I don’t know. There’s nothing in the texts that say that you do. We just do it anyway.” 

“And this is what all of the humans believe?” Audrey asked with a worried frown. She’d seen how religion could turn out extremists and she didn’t want to be associated with that. 

“For the most part,” she told them as she finished her stew and bread, not daring to ask for more, but Duke was already refilling her bowl anyway. “Some people believe that you’re not real and just personifications of ideas. Some people think you’re just regular people that just happen to be immortal, wise, and powerful. Some people think you’re true gods and watch over us always.”

“And do these factions fight over it?” Duke asked concerned. 

“Not at all. There can be friction sometimes during disagreements, but the teachings say that we should all come together no matter our differences and no one would dishonor you enough to turn violent over the subject,” Dinah assured them, noticing them visibly relax. 

“And what faction are you?” Audrey asked curiously, already having a suspicion based on her behavior but wanting to be sure. “Do you worship us?” 

“Yes and no,” Dinah said with a tilt of her head. “I’m one who sees you as normal people. I respect you a lot. I have faith in you. Your abilities, your compassion, your strength. Some people might consider that worship,” she said honestly. She could see how much the disliked the idea of being worshipped, but she had no intention of lying to them either so she went into more detail on her views and feelings than she normally would have as she finished her second bowl of stew and third cup of water. 

“I guess we can accept that,” Duke chuckled as he took the utensils and set them in a small barrel of water. “Why don’t you have a bath and get cleaned up,” he suggested. “I’ll step outside and see about finding you some warmer clothes. You look a little smaller than Audrey, but something of Sarah’s should fit you.”

“And send Sarah in too if you would to look her over?” Audrey suggested as she started to fill up the wood bathtub. Duke nodded and slipped out the door. 

“Thank you so much for everything,” Dinah said, almost moved to tears at their kindness as she took off the thick cloak of Duke’s and hung it neatly on the back of the chair now that the fire and hot food and warmed her enough. 

“It’s no trouble, really. It’s been a very long time since we had any visitors here,” Audrey told her. 

“There have been others who’ve tried to make the pilgrimage before, but it’s been about a hundred years since the last. He never came back.”

“He never made it here either,” Audrey told her, not wanting her to think that they’d been the cause of his disappearance. “We don’t really keep track of time, but it’s probably been at least five hundred years since anyone came here. Not since Haven was deserted.” Audrey poured the boiling water into the bath and stirred it around with her hand. “There you go. We can talk more when you’re done,” Audrey told her as she moved their standing curtain over to give her some privacy.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah gladly agreed to let the poor girl borrow some clothes and check on her health. Everyone was eager to meet her, but were letting their parents handle the damage control part before they started shoving their way in. Not everyone was home at the moment of course though. Duke and Audrey didn’t travel much other than their frequent boat trips, but all of their kids tended to have a bit of wanderlust. Caspian was out on the water right now, but that wasn’t surprising. He usually only spent a few weeks at a time at home. So much that he didn’t even have a house here and stayed with the parents during those rare times. Dylan was currently communing with nature on a mountain somewhere. No one really understood why he couldn’t just do that at home. It wasn’t like there wasn’t nature everywhere anyway. That was Dylan for you though. Lucy was out travelling around at the moment too, as were their youngest two siblings so the only ones home were the twins, Sarah, and Wade.

Sarah went to grab a set of clothes, warmer than was strictly necessary this time of year, but if she came from somewhere that the thin threads she was wearing were the norm then she probably couldn’t handle the cold as well as the rest of them. She slipped into her parents house to see her mom washing dishes so she just smiled and went over and reached her hand past the curtain to leave the clothes on the table there. 

Dinah didn’t take too long in the bath since the water didn’t stay warm for long and she got out, dried off, and got dressed in the nice warm clothes that she’d been left, unable to believe how soft and comfortable they were. Not that her silks weren’t comfortable, but these didn’t look like they would be. When she came out from behind the curtain she smiled at the new person. “Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m kinda the medic around here. You mind if I look you over and see how you’re doing?” 

“Sure, that’s fine. Thank you,” Dinah said, starting to feel like a broken record with the thanks, but it still needed to be said. 

After a quick exam, Sarah said, “Aside from dehydration which we can get fixed up in no time, you’re relatively healthy.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been rationing water for a whole moon cycle and finally ran out early yesterday. Your parents gave me some when I got here though,” she said with a smile. 

“Good. Why don’t you have a little more while we go outside and you can meet the rest of the family. We don’t usually get visitors so they’re curious,” Sarah said with a grin. 

“I have to admit I’m kinda curious too,” Dinah said with a grin of her own as she followed Audrey and Sarah outside. 

Duke had updated his kids on the way the humans saw them these days, and they were a little surprised too. Despite doing a lot of travelling, they rarely ran across the human settlements, choosing to explore more of the deep wilds. Needless to say, they had a lot of questions for their guest when she came out wondering how the humans had developed over time. 

While Dinah was ecstatic to meet all of them, she only really got tongue-tied with Wade. As a musician he was her patron god. She managed to get over it soon enough once Wade asked to play with her at some point before she left. 

“Speaking of that…why are you here?” Nathan asked curiously, knowing that she wouldn’t have made such a long, dangerous, and difficult journey just to say hello. 

“My village…it’s being overrun with spiders. We can’t figure out what we did to anger them and our guards are having trouble holding them at bay. We’ve been losing more and more people to the incursions,” she said sadly. “I came to see if you could help us.” 

Gloria grinned widely and put a hand on her twins shoulder. “We’d be glad to. We love spider hunts, don’t we Nate.” 

“Most definitely,” he returned her grin. “We can head out in a few days?” They would need to stock up for the trip and get ready. 

“That would be amazing. Thank you so much,” she said, barely holding herself back from hugging them. 

They could see her struggle and they both grabbed her and pulled her into a group hug. They were a very physically demonstrative family after all. They got it from their parents. “Just be careful kids, and try not to interfere with the humans too much?” Audrey asked. 

“Why not?” Gloria asked confused. 

“If they see us as gods, we have to be careful. We don’t want to end up starting a holy war if we say the wrong thing or something,” Duke explained. 

“Well, I doubt we’ll be able to get away with not interfering at all, but we’ll be careful,” Nathan promised. They could watch their words and try and make sure nothing they said was misinterpreted. 

“Come on. Why don’t we go make some music,” Wade suggested, leading her to his house to choose an instrument or two before they went back outside to play. He was eager to hear new music, and he knew that he wasn’t the only one. The whole family enjoyed hearing it. “Hey dad, why don’t you grab your ukulele and join in too.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Duke chuckled and ducked inside to grab it. It wasn’t technically a ukulele as they had been on Earth, but it was close enough that Duke had always called it that. They all played music to some degree, but only Wade and Duke had the skill to follow someone else in something they didn’t know. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing music, dancing, and laughing. Gloria was the one to go make dinner since she was the best cook after Duke and Duke was busy. 

It was a nice evening so they ate outside, finishing just in time to head in before dark. When Dinah tried to give the pan flute back to Wade, he shook his head. “Keep it. I can easily make another.” She’d mentioned that she had never seen anything like it before, but picked it up easily, so he would happily let her keep it. 

When she seemed hesitant, Nathan chimed in. “You should keep. You make such beautiful music with it,” he told her. 

“Okay. Well…thank you,” she said happily, figuratively floating on air as she followed Duke and Audrey home to sleep in the spare bed there. Since it was still relatively early for sleep, she hesitated before asking Duke and Audrey, “Can I ask you guys some questions?” 

“Of course,” Audrey said, patting the couch next to her as she leaned against Duke who had an arm wrapped around her. 

“Why was Haven abandoned? Was it really just because the winters were too cold?” 

“That was part of it,” Duke told her. “But it was mostly because the more the village expanded, the more danger they ended up in from bears, which are /really/ huge up here. While they could defend themselves against anything else, only myself, Nathan, and Lucy have the ability needed to take down a bear and we couldn’t be everywhere at once. That also meant they couldn’t make any new towns up here either since they wouldn’t be defended from the bears.”

“They had learned enough by then to be able to handle the more numerous, but smaller threats down south so they decided to migrate,” Audrey added. 

“So you were left up here alone?” she asked, not sure if she should be sad for them or if they liked it that way. 

“This is our home. It was our home before the humans came and it’s still our home with them gone. It does get a little lonely sometimes, but our kids are in and out all the time and there’s almost always at least a few of them home at a time,” Audrey told her. 

“I’m curious as to how humans see us all though. You mentioned a little, but…” Duke said leadingly, having managed to wrap his head around the idea over the course of the afternoon. 

There wasn’t time to go into all the stories, but she told them the personifications and who was the god of what, and they couldn’t really disagree with any of it, but still had to say, “They did get their strongest traits right, but I hope you can see that they’re all so much more than that too,” Audrey told her. 

“Like Nathan, while he definitely has a talent for teaching, he’s not really any smarter than the rest of them. And Gloria is the best craftsman, but she’s far from the only one. They all have a wide range of skills and talents,” Duke explained. 

“Yeah, I get that, and a lot of the stories go into more details. Like there are stories of Nathan taking down bears and Gloria’s skill with a bow and how everyone would work the fields to keep the people fed and worked on the houses and all that,” Dinah assured them. She wouldn’t really like being known for only one thing and having everything else about her forgotten either.

“We also have two more younger kids, but they weren’t born until after the last of the humans migrated so it makes sense that they don’t know about them,” Audrey told her. They’d been using the plant based contraceptives, having decided to take a break from having kids for a while. She’d been thinking about suggesting starting again soon though. 

Dinah asked a few more questions to clarify the history and found that while a lot of the details were wrong…including the fact that they were gods in the first place…the substance was usually correct.


	4. Chapter 4

When she went to bed, she was too excited to sleep much. She was still having trouble believing that she was actually in Duke and Audrey’s house. That she had met Nathan and Gloria and Sarah and Wade. She wondered if any of the others would be coming home before she left. It was all just so surreal to her. She eventually did fall asleep and woke to the smell of breakfast and her heart nearly stopped when she saw a shirtless Duke cooking. While part of it was the fact that clearly he was gorgeous. Just like the rest of the gods and goddesses, but more was the fact that it reminded her where she was. And who she was with. 

“Good morning,” Duke said cheerfully as he scooped the food onto plates. “Hungry?”

“Yes, please. Thank you,” she said happily as she got up and headed for the table just as Audrey came back inside with a water-filled barrel. 

“Would you like water or juice with breakfast?” Audrey asked as she got a cup of water for herself and Duke. 

“Water’s fine, thanks,” Dinah said quickly, not wanting them to go to any extra trouble on her behalf. 

“Since you’re a guest, you don’t have to help in the fields this morning, but you’re welcome to join us if you’d like,” Duke told her. 

“I’d be glad to,” she said sincerely. She never minded helping in the fields at home. While the farmers took care of them most of the time, during harvests everyone chipped in. The chance to work alongside her gods though she wouldn’t have passed up even if she hated it. After the best breakfast she’d ever eaten in her life, she followed Duke and Audrey outside where they met up with everyone else and got to work. She spent half the morning laughing, and she wasn’t the only one as playful teasing and banter accompanied the work and even a few handfuls of thrown weeds. It hardly felt like work at all. 

During the afternoon, Nathan offered to take her to see the ruins of Haven and she was more than excited at the prospect. She was advised to get her weapons before leaving the clearing, and she suddenly realized that she’d actually come out without them this morning. She never left the house without at least her bow. She normally only took the spear when she was leaving the village walls, but she always had the bow. Especially since the spider problem had started a few months ago. This whole pace just exuded a kind of peace that she wouldn’t have believed unless she saw it. Nathan had gone to get his weapons too and they met back outside and she decided to ask about it as they started walking. “How do you keep it so peaceful here?” 

“That’s the horses’ doing,” Nathan told her. “They’re just as intelligent as we are and we’re lucky that they allow us to share their clearing. As long as we don’t take up too much space and respect their boundaries that is,” he chuckled. 

“So it’s their land and they just let you live there?” she asked curiously. 

“Exactly. They keep out all the predators and take care of us and in return we give them access to a wider variety of foods, and treat their wounds. We have a mutual respect and balance here.”

“It sounds nice,” she said with a smile. 

“It is. Things got a little tense for a while when your ancestors first came though. We originally wanted them to share the clearing, but the horses said no. It would take up too much of their space and crowd them out.”

“I can understand that,” Dinah admitted. Her people had long lived in harmony with nature and the animals as well and if they really were that intelligent and this really was their home first, it made sense. “That’s why you built Haven.” 

“Right. They lived in one of the large caves you probably passed on the way here until we got the dormitory built and then the rest of the village followed,” Nathan explained as they reached the outskirts. Most of the buildings were still at least partially standing and they looking inside a few of them before they got to the big building in the center. “This was where they all lived at first while we built the rest of the town. I was only a little boy at the time, but I remember it clearly. All the beds were lined up over here…” he gave her the full tour. 

“How long did it take to get everyone moved into homes?” she asked. 

“Almost six years,” he told her. “Once they were all moved out this became a storage area and then a market.” He led her out and down to another house that was still mostly standing. The roof was just a bit caved in. “This was where I lived with my wife, Lizzie.”

“You were married? The stories never mentioned that,” she told him. 

“Yeah, Lizzie was one of the first group that came. They were almost all kids, you know. They had two adults with them. Lizzie’s father and his best friend. The rest of the kids were orphans,” Nathan explained. “Lizzie and I grew up together, fell in love, and got married. Unlike us though, she was mortal. We were together until she died of old age and we had five children who were also mortal. Once my wife died, my children were already grown, so I moved back to the clearing with my parents and built a house there.”

“Were any of your other siblings ever married and had kids?” Dinah asked curiously. 

“All of us have. Some more than once. Lizzie was my only though,” Nathan said sadly, still missing her after all these years though the pain had long faded. 

“Tell me about her? And your kids?” Dinah asked and the rest of the afternoon was spent picking through the ruins as Nathan told stories not just of his family, but also the others from the original settlers and even a few from future generations. There was quite a bit about his adopted sister too and Dinah eagerly soaked up all the stories. 

About halfway through the afternoon she got the fright of her life as a giant lynx bounded through the area straight at them, but Nathan just laughed and pet her. “Hey Sheba,” he said happily. “Have a good hunt?” 

“Can I?” Dinah asked reaching out to the cat tentatively now that her heart had left her throat. Meeting Sheba was almost as amazing as meeting the gods. Her answer came not from Nathan, but from the cat that bumped her outstretched hand invitingly and she grinned as she scratched behind the ears like she saw Nathan do. 

By the time they got back dinner was ready and they all sat around the outdoor table to eat before heading inside as the sun set. The next day was much like the first and Dinah helped in the fields in the morning and the afternoon was spent with some of them making music and others working on small crafts and projects with frequent conversation thrown in. The immortals were just as curious as to how humans had developed as she was about them. 

Nathan and Gloria said that they would be ready to leave right after breakfast the next morning if she was too and she quickly agreed. She wanted to save her home as soon as possible. For all she knew it might already be too late. She had one last Duke-cooked breakfast the next morning and got hugs from both Duke and Audrey once she had her bag packed. She’d left behind her nearly ruined silk clothes as well as the bundle of silks she’d brought as an offering in return for their hospitality and the three sets of clothes that Sarah had given her. 

Stepping outside also got her hugs from Sarah and Wade as they bid her goodbye, knowing that they’d likely never see her again with the difficulty of the journey from her home. When she turned to find Nathan and Gloria she was taken aback at the sight. Both of the giant cats were wearing spider chitin armor and one of them had two water barrels on it’s back, one hanging to each side and the other had bags hanging to each side of it. “Come here, there’s room for your stuff in this one,” Nathan told her, holding one of the large bags open for her. 

“We filled your barrel with fruits and berries to snack on during the trip since our water barrels are bigger,” Gloria told her as she came out with the smaller barrel on her back and went to the cat holding the water barrels that Dinah recognized as Sheba. Which meant that this one must be Hercules.


	5. Chapter 5

Both the cats crouched down and the twins in perfect synchronization reached over their necks, grabbed a tuft of fur, and jumped, swinging a leg over and then Nathan reached a hand down to her. “We loaded Sheba with the heavier stuff so Herc could carry us both,” he explained as she took his hand. 

Dinah tried a few times to replicate their actions to mount the big cat, but kept sliding back down, making Nathan laugh, but not unkindly. A chuckling Duke came to her rescue and boosted her up and between that and Nathan’s grip on her forearm she made it up. “You good?” Duke asked amusedly once she was settled, ready to catch her if she fell again. 

Dinah laughed and nodded so he gave her a playful salute and stepped back as Audrey called, “Make sure you’re back before winter gets too heavy, please.” The only one of her kids that didn’t usually come home for winter was Caspian, but they knew he was fine. He generally stayed around tropical waters during the winter, not being a big fan of the extreme cold. 

“We will, Mom,” Gloria promised and gave a wave. 

“Hold on tight,” Nathan told Dinah before he made a sharp sound and both cats took off like a shot. “Not that tight,” Nathan grunted a few minutes later, barely loud enough to be heard over the air rushing past them and Dinah blushed brightly as she loosened her grip. 

“Sorry,” she muttered sheepishly, making Nathan laugh again, the sound carried in the wind, as he patted her arms around his stomach in acceptance of the apology. They made it to the water in no time and turned south down the coast, that being the quickest and safest way. Not to mention that Dinah knew the way to her village from the beach, but not so much from the random wilds unless they managed to get her close. 

They stopped every few hours for the cats to take a breather and for them to stretch their legs and have a snack and some water and then Gloria helped her back up behind Nathan before getting back on Sheba and they were off again. They stuck with the fruits and berries to eat during the day and when they stopped for the night, they took down a group of bats from the cave, keeping a couple to roast over the fire for themselves and tossing the rest to the cats who had been unloaded and unarmored for the night. 

“Our armor is in the bags, along with an extra set of Gloria’s for you. It’ll be a little big on you, but it’ll work. We won’t bother getting that on until we get closer though,” Nathan told her. 

“But the cats are already wearing theirs?” she asked curiously. 

“It’s the easiest way to carry it since it’s so big,” Gloria told her. “And we wouldn’t take them against spiders without it.” They’d almost lost Sheba to the venom on their first spider hunt and barely managed to save her. Now all the easy to get to places were covered in the chitin they’d harvested then. While spiders didn’t offer a lot of meat relative to their size, the chitin and silk was invaluable and they’d gotten pretty good at hunting them over the years and found it a fun challenge, making a game of it. But only as much as they needed. They had never and would never kill any living thing that wasn’t either threatening them or they needed the meat or other parts, and they always ate what little meat the spiders did offer. 

After their bat on a stick dinner, they laid down to sleep, not worrying about the fire. With the body heat from the cats that they were snuggled against they didn’t have to worry about getting too cold. When morning came they ate the leftover bat and then got the cats outside, armored, and loaded up again, and Gloria helped her up behind Nathan on Hercules before getting on Sheba, barrel strapped to her back again, and they were off again. 

Dinah knew that it was faster with the cats, but was surprised when they reached the coast she recognized in only six days and motioned Nathan to stop. The climbed off and gave the cats a little rest, had a snack to fortify them for the fight, and got into their own armor. They took the barrels off and set them to the side to pick up later, not wanting to carry them into a fight which they were expecting from Dinah’s stories about how the village had been under constant assault by the eight-legged three foot tall insects. 

The bags were split up and shuffled around so that each cat was carrying a hundred spare arrows in easy reach. “We tend to lose arrows with spiders,” Nathan explained. 

“How good of a shot are you with a bow?” Gloria asked. 

“Good side of average,” Dinah shrugged. At least for her people. She wasn’t sure how much better their criteria was, but it was the best answer she could give. 

“Okay you can switch between the bow and spear as needed and that’ll free Nate up from having to use his bow. Maybe we’ll lose less arrows that way,” she teased her brother who gave her a playful shove. 

Dinah laughed as they started getting back onto the cats. She’d been getting up on her own, with Nathan’s arm of course, for the last few days, but with the armor on it turned out to be a different story and Gloria had to boost her again. This time in front of Nathan. “This way you have both arms free to shoot and don’t have to worry about me being in the way,” he told her. “You’ll just have to trust me not to let you fall and to keep them off our sides.” 

“I can do that,” she assured him with a bright smile before taking a chance and turning back to kiss his cheek before they took off again, having turned back too quickly to see the soft smile quirk onto his face at her action. 

They burst into the village just before nightfall to find the siege still underway and could tell that the villagers were losing the fight. The six foot tall cats easily jumped over the eight foot walls, crossed the corner of the village and then jumped over the other wall to land in the midst of the spiders. Three spears were knocking them away, clearing an area before Gloria pulled her bow and Dinah followed suit. 

The villagers that weren’t engaged in the fight fell to their knees in prayer at what could only be their gods coming to their rescue. There were cries of, “It’s Nathan and Gloria, come to save us!” Other’s were more interested in the cats, calling out the names of Sheba and Hercules in triumph. The high priestess covered her mouth with tears of joy, not only at the sight of the gods she’d dedicated her life to but her oldest friend riding in front of Nathan. She’d actually made it. And brought back help. 

Nathan wasn’t aiming to kill unless he needed to. These people clearly had enough spiders to meet their needs for years to come. The main purpose here was beating them back. That said, he didn’t shy away from killing. They were still a threat, so he would do what he needed to do. The bows didn’t have much choice but aim to kill, but he was more beating them and sending them flying back. Sometimes an arrow would catch them midair sometimes not. Sometimes they would get too close and he’d have to stab them as they climbed. 

Hercules and Sheba were doing their part too, the smaller insects no match for their teeth and claws as they ripped and tore everything they could, trusting the skill of their riders to be able to compensate for their sudden movements and lunges. This wasn’t a problem for Nathan and Gloria, but Dinah wasn’t nearly so experienced. Nathan was good though. Whenever she thought she might fall, an arm wrapped around her waist holding steady while the other arm didn’t lose a beat swinging the spear which changed arms often whenever they were free. She also learned that it’s a lot more difficult to take aim atop a moving animal, but she didn’t think she did too badly. She was only hitting about half as many as Gloria though, despite how closely they were bunched together. 

Night was already falling by the time the spiders retreated and the entire town breathed a sigh of relief. They didn’t expect it to last, but perhaps they could at least get a night of rest before it started again and perhaps their gods could find a more permanent solution. Nathan, Gloria, and Dinah were exhausted as the cats jumped the wall again, landing in the middle of the street and they were surrounded as they slid off their backs with people prostrating before them.


	6. Chapter 6

They were glad that they’d been warned at least, and when they held up their hands all sound stopped like a switch had been thrown. “First, I’d like to say that we’re not gods. We’re people. Just like you. We just happen to be immortal,” Nathan told them, despite knowing that it wouldn’t do any good. 

“Everyone back off and give them some room to breathe,” the high priestess said firmly as she stepped forward, making a mental note that Dinah had been right about them wanting to be treated as normal people. “Welcome to Inara,” she said with a half bow. 

“Thank you,” Gloria replied, both for the welcome and for calling the hordes off. “You have a beautiful village.”

“Thank you. It was much nicer before the spiders began to attack,” she said wearily. 

“Perhaps in the morning we can try and figure out why,” Nathan offered. 

“I would be happy to return the hospitality your family showed me, but I’m afraid I don’t have room for Sheba and Hercules,” Dinah told them. 

“You may also stay in the temple if you wish,” the high priestess told them. “There are always a set of rooms set aside for the gods as a symbolic gesture in the temple and the gathering area is plenty large enough for Sheba and Hercules to rest.” 

Nathan and Gloria shared a look before Gloria told the high priestess, “I’m sure Sheba and Herc would appreciate if they could stay there, but we would rather stay with our friend if it won’t cause any offense.”

“No offense at all,” the high priestess shook her head. As if the gods could offend them rather than the other way around. “I will see to it that they get plenty of water and fresh meat.” 

“We’ll go with you so we can get them unloaded and get the armor off,” Nathan told her, as they started making their way to the temple, cats walking on the outside of the group. 

“We’ll have to go back and get the barrels in the morning,” Gloria reminded Nathan. 

“If they’re still there,” he snorted amusedly before turning to Dinah. “If we can’t get them back, we’ll replace your barrel.” 

“It’s fine. That was an old one I was getting ready to replace anyway,” Dinah assured him. “And it was lost defending my village after you were kind enough to come and help us.”

“We can worry about it when we know if we’ll be able to get them back,” Gloria said before Nathan could argue the point. And it would keep the conversation from the prying ears of the people who were still hanging onto their every word. Just from a more respectful distance now. 

“Here we are,” the high priestess told them, opening the double door into the large open meeting hall. 

Nathan and Gloria bit their lips in an effort not to laugh at all the depictions of their family painted around the walls. They did have to admit that the art was beautiful and the likenesses uncanny. They were close enough that it made them wonder if the people who left Haven had make portraits of them that they took along. They tore their eyes away from the sight and put their attention on the cats and quickly got the bags stripped off and then the armor which they put in the corner for now while a group of attendants brought in two large ornate water bowls and two more bowls filled with raw steaks to put in front of the animals who were more than happy to accept. 

As they turned to leave, they caught sight of a display case with glass in front and their jaws dropped. Sitting there were two ancient baby cradles with the faded paint proclaiming Nathan on one and Gloria on the other. “Are those for real?” Gloria had to ask. 

“We’re not sure,” the high priestess admitted. “They could just as easily be fakes passed off, but they are thought to be the original cradles, yes. I don’t suppose you have any way to clear that up?” she asked hopefully. 

Nathan and Gloria were both torn and remembering their parents’ admonition to be careful. The last thing they wanted was to hurt these people by making them think their gods were displeased with them, so they would just have to grin and bear it for now. “If we can see them closer, we could probably tell,” Gloria told her, fully intending to lie if they weren’t, but still wanted to see for her own curiosity. It wasn’t impossible that they could be. A lot of their old stuff had been given to the original villagers who needed it and could have lasted through the years. 

This display case had never been opened for anyone save the preserver who, every twenty years, redid the varnish to keep the paint for the names from fading. If anyone had a right to get a closer look though it was the gods that they had once belonged to, so she didn’t hesitate to open the case. 

Fully aware of just how much these would mean to these people, as little as they liked it, they handled them very carefully and looked them over closely. “This one’s legit,” Nathan said after a minute before showing Gloria, “The toothmarks are still there from when you got into your chewing phase,” he teased. 

“And this one still has the knife marks from where you tried to scratch out my name,” she teased back, easily understanding what he was trying to do. If they couldn’t get them to stop thinking of them as gods, maybe they could at least start getting them to see them as people too. 

Dinah snickered at them as the high priestess beamed, both enjoying their byplay and glad that their relics were the real thing. She even had more stories to tell the people about them. She still felt the need to offer though, “Do you want them back?” She desperately hoped that they said no though. 

Nathan and Gloria shared a look before shaking their heads and putting them gently back into the display case. “We have no need for them and they seem to mean so much to your people,” Nathan told her. 

“Thank you, my lord and lady,” the high priestess said solemnly. 

“Please, just call us Gloria and Nathan,” Gloria said hopefully. 

“If you wish my…Gloria,” she said with a nervous smile. 

“Thank you,” Nathan said relieved as she locked the case back. 

“We should find something to eat before we go to my house. Since I’ve been gone for so long I don’t have any food there, but we should still be able to get a meal at the tavern,” Dinah suggested. 

“That would be nice, I’m pretty hungry,” Gloria nodded in acceptance. Even if it did mean a lot of stares. 

Before they left, the high priestess pulled Dinah in for a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered tearfully. “For getting help and bringing them to us, but also for coming back. I thought I’d lost you forever.” 

Dinah smiled and hugged her back just as tightly. “I told you I’d come back.” 

As they walked out, she told Nathan and Gloria, “We grew up together and have been best friends since we were kids. She’s the one who told me how to find you.” 

“Then we owe her thanks,” Nathan said with a smile at Dinah who beamed back and Gloria rolled her eyes. 

“This is the tavern,” she told them as they went inside and found a table. 

It was only minutes after they sat down when bowls of hearty stew and fresh-baked breads were being set in front of them along with a flavored meade. When they offered to pay it was waved off. “If you don’t want to accept the gift as gods, then you can consider it thanks for saving us,” the tavern owner told them, being the one to serve them personally. He’d heard what they said about not wanting to be considered gods, but the idea of taking payment from them still didn’t feel right so that was how he got around it. He hoped. 

“Then on those grounds, we’ll accept,” Nathan said, seeing it as a decent compromise. 

Gloria added a nod and a, “Thank you. The meal was excellent.” 

When they got back to Dinah’s house, she showed them to rooms, taking Gloria to her sister’s old room and Nathan to hers. When he realized that she intended to give up her room for him and sleep on the couch he refused and insisted that he be the one to sleep on the couch as it was her house. When he wouldn’t budge, she told him that the offer for rooms at the temple was probably still open if he didn’t want to sleep on the couch and he assured her that it was fine. “I’ve slept in far worse places,” he chuckled. “I’ll be fine on the couch.” Nathan had inherited his father’s height, so the couch was a little on the short side, but he managed. As he’d said, he’d slept in far less comfortable places.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning the three of them split up. Gloria took Sheba to try and find the barrels, Dinah went to the market to restock her food, while Nathan began investigating to figure out why the spiders suddenly turned so aggressive. It turned out that while they’d always had occasional incursions by individual spiders, this was the first time they’d attacked en masse which meant that something must have changed. 

After some questioning, he learned that they had expanded their walls last year which gave him a place to start. He took Hercules as a guard as they headed outside the walls and began to look around. He was sure that the guards accompanying him were less there for his protection and more to be close to him, but as long as they didn’t make nuisances of themselves, he could live with it. It was well into the afternoon when he found it. Just a little was off the southern wall underneath a tree. It was well hidden by leaves and debris, but there was definitely a hole there. 

Nathan checked his bow and arrows and tightened his grip on his staff as he lowered himself into it. When Hercules whined, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to follow, Nathan gave him a scratch behind the ears and said, “I’ll be okay, Herc. I’m just gonna take a look and come right back.” 

“We’ll go with him and keep him safe,” the guards told the still worried cat, and once Nathan was fully inside the hole, they went in after him. 

They all had to crouch down low since the cavern was short but it was wide enough for them to go two across and it wasn’t far before they reached a large open area that had been dug out and all of their eyes widened. The webs were heavy and thick throughout the area with hundreds of open egg sacks, each as large as two of them combined. Nathan stopped and motioned them all back the way the came, staying as quiet as possible. When they came up out of the hole, the three guards were shaking, but Nathan was perfectly fine. “See Herc? I’m all good,” he assured his eternal companion who nuzzled him happily. Nathan turned to the guards and said, “I think we’ve figured out why they attacked. The wall got moved too close to their breeding ground and when all the babies were ready to leave the nest there was only one place they could go.”

“We will see about moving that wall back to the original location immediately and lengthening one of the other walls to compensate,” the lead guard easily agreed. 

That made Nathan feel a lot better about these people. That they didn’t even suggest damaging the breeding ground and were willing to move themselves rather than displace the spiders. “That would be wise, yes. And I would check your other walls, especially the new one before you move it…to make sure you won’t have this problem again.”

“We will do that,” he nodded solemnly. “Thank you my lord.”

“Please, call me Nathan,” he said, clapping the guard on the shoulder. “Let’s head back inside the walls before the spiders come to see what we’re doing here hmm?” That got them moving double time. 

They were just heading back inside when Gloria and Sheba got back with the three barrels still intact. It was getting close to dinnertime so they got the cats bedded back down in the temple while they made their way back to Dinah’s house to find her making a big dinner for the three of them. She could easily see by the barrels they were carrying in that Gloria’s mission was successful so she asked Nathan, “Did you figure out why the spiders have been attacking?”

“Yes, actually. It turns out that when the walls were moved last year, the south wall is about ten paces from the hidden entrance to their breeding grounds,” Nathan explained. 

“That’ll do it,” Gloria said with a wince. “What are they gonna do?” 

“I’m not sure how much pull the guy I talked to has and if someone might overrule him, but he planned to have the wall moved back and add more space on another wall,” Nathan told her, getting a satisfied nod from his sister who came to the same conclusion he had. 

“Since we started the extra building on the north wall and haven’t added anything on the south wall yet, it shouldn’t be a problem to move it back,” Dinah gave them the insider’s perspective. “And I’m sure that no matter how much importance he has, if you throw your approval behind moving the wall it’ll be done immediately.”

“Yeah, not going there,” Nathan shook his head. “We start throwing around suggestions and orders that’s a very slippery slope.” 

“Agreed,” Gloria said with a nod. “In fact, we should get out of here as soon as possible so we don’t make any more waves than we have to.”

“If they can get the wall moved fast, I’d rather wait until then,” Nathan said. “If the spiders come back before the wall is moved…”

“That’s a good point,” Gloria sighed and turned to Dinah. “Do you think you can find out how fast they can get the wall moved? If it’ll be in the next few days we’ll wait.” She didn’t add that if they procrastinated on it they deserved whatever they got. 

“I’ll find out in the morning,” Dinah promised, fully understanding why they didn’t want to do it themselves. What Nathan had said about the slippery slope helped her realize how messy their presence here could become. If they went around asking questions then it would be seen as them pressuring people to get it done which they wanted to avoid. 

It didn’t end up being necessary anyway, because by the time they finished breakfast in the morning, they found half the village already hard at work moving the wall. Hercules and Sheba speeding up the work by pulling large sections of it. When they walked over they were met by the leader of the guard, who they later learned was also the head honcho of the town. “I hope you don’t mind. We asked Sheba and Hercules if they’d be willing to help and they were, and we didn’t want to wake you…”

“It’s fine,” Gloria cut him off with a chuckle. “As long as they’re willing, that’s all that matters.” 

“How long do you think until it’s done?” Dinah asked. 

“Assuming that the cats are willing to keep helping, an hour or so,” he told them. 

“Then we should be getting ready to go,” Gloria said. At the downtrodden look on every face that heard them, she added, “We need to get home before the winter storms hit or our parents will worry.” 

The people perked up at that, understanding looks crossing their faces. “I hope you know that you or any of your family are welcome here anytime,” the leader told them earnestly. 

“Perhaps one day we will come back for a visit,” Nathan said noncommittally. “Thank you.” 

They headed back for Dinah’s house to pack their few belongings and then they headed to the river to fill up their own two water barrels. When they got back, Dinah offered them her barrel that she’d taken full of fruits. “For your trip back.”

“Only if you’ll take this,” Nathan said handing her his spare bearskin cloak that he’d brought along since it would be much colder when they got back. “You should be able to trade it for enough to make up for it.” He’d noticed that the thicker furs seemed to be at a premium here, likely due to the lack of availability in the area. 

“Your family fed and housed me for days,” she tried to argue. 

“My family has more than enough and doesn’t have to worry about trading for things from others,” Nathan pointed out. 

Dinah finally agreed but had no intention of trading it away anyway. She would keep it to remember him by. By that time they were ready to go, and Dinah went with them as far as the temple just as Sheba and Hercules arrived, finished with their work. She helped them get the armor, barrels, and bags back on the cats and then scratched them behind the ears, hugging their large heads. “Bye Sheba. Bye Herc. I’ll miss you,” she told them before turning to Nathan and Gloria. “I wish you didn’t have to go so soon,” Dinah sighed. “I understand why you do though.” 

“I wish we could stay longer too,” Nathan said sadly. “It was really great meeting you Dinah.” If he ever did come back to visit it would be to see her again, but he knew that he shouldn’t. 

“What he said,” Gloria agreed, pulling Dinah into a warm hug. 

Once Gloria had let her go, Nathan took his turn, hugging her gently before pulling back with his hands cupping her face, thumbs trailing over her cheekbones and then leaned in to press a tender kiss to her forehead. “Goodbye, Dinah,” he whispered as he turned to walk out, Gloria and the cats following behind.


	8. Chapter 8

Once they were gone, the high priestess stepped out from where she’d been giving them a chance to say goodbye in private. She walked up and put an arm around Dinah’s shoulders. “Will you be okay?” She knew that look. Dinah was smitten, and who could blame her? Nathan was certainly gorgeous and had seemed kind and compassionate the little she’d seen of him. Not to mention had come charging in a long with his sister to save their entire village. While she would never dare to fall for one of her gods in that way, Dinah had always been different in that regard. 

“Of course,” Dinah shrugged off her melancholy. At least on the outside. “I’ve never been better. I completely the pilgrimage, spent three wonderful days in Eden and helped save the village. What more could I ask for?” 

The high priestess smiled sadly. She knew better, but she hoped that talking about it would help. And she wanted to know everything anyway. “Tell me about it? What were they like? What was Eden like?” she asked, leading Dinah to her personal rooms so they could chat. 

“Well, I ran out of food and water before I got there and I was barely standing. I met the horse guardians first but they let me pass and lead me to the garden. It turns out that Eden actually belongs to the horses, who are just as intelligent as people and they just let the gods live there. They see each other as family and help each other.”

“Facinating,” the high priestess said, already working on how to incorporate that into the teachings. 

“Duke was the first to see me and he and Audrey came over and he wrapped his own cloak around me since I was freezing and then hugged me to his side as we walked to the house and they gave me food and water,” she told her old friend. 

“That must have been so amazing,” she said wistfully. 

“It really was. Not everyone was home, but I saw the ruins of Haven with Nathan, played music with Wade and Duke, spent a lot of time chatting with Audrey and Sarah and all of them really and I got all kinds of stories about the old days and our ancestors. Like did you know that they’ve all been married and had kids with humans before?”

“Will you write everything down?” the high priestess asked hopefully. “All the stories you heard, what you saw, maybe even work with Janna for some illustrations of Eden and Haven?” 

“Sure,” Dinah nodded happily. It would give her something to do over the long winter and a way to remember it all. She would make two copies, one for the temple and one to keep for herself. “I’d be glad to. Oh and the next performance I do, I’ll be using this beautiful instrument that Wade gave me. He calls it a pan flute.”

“I can’t wait,” she said excitedly. For the performance or the book. 

Nathan and Gloria headed back the same way they came and each day they switched which cat was carrying the heavy barrels now that one wasn’t carrying two passengers. They got back home just as the first snow was starting to fall and found that their other brothers and sisters had arrived while they’d been gone too. All except Caspian, of course. The weren’t likely to see him until the start of summer. They were met with hugs and kisses from their parents and Nathan said, “Sorry we missed the harvest.”

“It’s okay. We managed just fine without you,” Audrey said with a chuckle. “How did your thing go with the spiders?” 

“We managed to make it before the spiders completely overwhelmed the village, but it was close,” Gloria started the story. 

“We figured out that they had expanded their walls too close to the spider’s breeding ground, so they moved the wall back and they shouldn’t have any more problems,” Nathan explained. 

“That’s good. How much damage did you do?” Duke asked, partially joking. 

“I don’t think we did too bad,” Gloria shrugged. “We told them that we weren’t gods, but I don’t think they’ll listen about that.”

“We didn’t really talk much to anyone other than Dinah,” Nathan told them. “There was a little bit with the leader of the village and with the high priestess. Sheba and Herc stayed in the temple since it was the biggest indoor space.”

“And you didn’t want them sleeping outside with the venomous spiders lurking around,” Audrey nodded in understanding. “But the people seemed nice?”

“Yeah, they were good people,” Gloria said with a nod. “The temple was filled with drawings of us and the clearing and stuff which was pretty weird. They even have mine and Nathan’s old baby cradles on display.”

“They live well though. Working with nature rather than against it. As soon as they realized that they were encroaching on the spider’s breeding ground, they immediately suggested moving the wall and didn’t even consider trying to make the spiders move instead,” Nathan said. 

“That’s good then,” Audrey said with satisfaction. The fact that nothing mechanical would work on this world would be helpful but the last thing any of them wanted was for this to end up like Earth with humans taking over the planet and destroying it. Not that the final destruction was the fault of the humans that time, but it would have been if left alone. “Why don’t you two go get cleaned up and unpacked from your journey before we all sit down for a nice big dinner?” 

During the winter while most of the kids were home, they always gathered at their parents house a few days a week and they noticed Nathan getting more and more withdrawn over the course of the winter. Gloria knew why, but didn’t know what to tell him. Duke was the next one to figure it out when Nathan had traded some of his cloth out for the scraps of Dinah’s ruined clothes that she’d travelled in. Audrey hadn’t noticed. Duke would tell her if it became necessary, but he wanted to talk to his son first so the next morning he headed over there. 

“Dad!” Nathan said surprised, as he let him in. “What’s wrong?” 

“Can’t a father come visit his son without something being wrong?” Duke asked amusedly as he sat down and was handed a cup of water. 

“Well given that you don’t usually…” Nathan said with a chuckle. Usually they were going to their parents house or talking while they were doing something together outside. 

“I wanted to talk to you about Dinah,” Duke said bluntly, getting to the point. 

“What about her?” Nathan asked with forced nonchalance. 

“You know that you can’t mingle that much with a village of humans…but you could always aske her to move here.” 

“And leave her whole life behind? The only home she’s ever known?” Nathan scoffed. 

“And maybe she won’t want to. That’s just a chance you’ll have to take,” Duke shrugged. “She did seem to like it here though.”

“And if she says no?” Nathan asked with a huff. 

This had been what Duke was afraid of, and why he’d wanted to do this without Audrey at first. Nathan had never had to face rejection. He and Lizzie had fallen in together before they even knew what happened and he’d shut himself off for so long after Lizzie had passed and never really got back out there before the humans moved on. “Have a seat,” Duke said patting the couch next to him to get Nathan to stop pacing. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you kids this, but…your mother and I didn’t actually get together until after we came to this world.”

“Really? But you knew each other for years before that you said,” Nathan said confused. 

“Yeah. We did. And not long after we met, I asked her out. She said yes. But then she stood me up,” Duke told him. 

“She did? Why?” Nathan asked with wide eyes, never having heard this particular story before. 

“At the time, she said it was because she ended up having to work. That people needed her help. Which was true in a way. Except that she knew for two days that she wouldn’t be able to make it and never even told me, much less try to reschedule.” 

“That’s…” Nathan didn’t even have words for that. He couldn’t imagine how his dad must have felt. 

“It was bad. And it hurt…a lot. She told me later, after we’d gotten together, that she had gotten scared. Because back on Earth things with us were complicated. We were from two different worlds figuratively speaking.”

“How so?” Nathan asked. 

“I was a criminal and she was a cop,” Duke said, knowing those words didn’t mean much to his son so he explained better. “She had dedicated her life to upholding the rules and laws of the land and I made a living breaking those rules and laws. She cared about me, but that scared her because being with me would complicate her life in so many ways.” 

“Kinda like moving to an entirely different region leaving behind everything you know,” Nathan started to realize where his dad was going with this story. 

“Exactly,” Duke nodded. “She wasn’t ready then, but she was later. That time it was her coming to me, but I misunderstood and pushed her away and hurt her just as much as she had me and that was the end of it for a long time. She moved on and found someone else and so did I, but then her boyfriend and my girlfriend both died, and we ended up trapped here with no choice but to finally talk things out and figure out where we stood.” 

“And if you had done that sooner you could have saved yourselves so much trouble,” Nathan nodded. 

“Exactly. I mean, don’t think that we didn’t care about the other people we were with or would change our time with them for anything, but still…so much heartache could have been avoided if we’d just taken a leap and been honest with each other about how we felt and what we wanted. I don’t want to see you make the same mistake. If you care about her, then tell her. Make her understand that you can’t stay with her there and the only way it can work is if she comes here.” 

“And even if she says no at first it might just be because she’s scared so she might change her mind and come anyway,” Nathan nodded in understanding. 

“Bingo,” Duke said patting him on the knee. “I know it’s a long hard journey for her to get here without you and the cats, but at least if she does it you know how much she cares.” 

“Okay, I’ll…I’ll think about what you said,” Nathan promised, that being the best he could do right now. “I can’t really go anywhere until winter is over anyway.” Travelling in this weather was stupid and should only be done if there was no other choice. 

“Fair enough,” Duke nodded and pulled his son into a hug as he got up to leave.


	9. Chapter 9

Once he got home, Audrey asked, “You talked to Nathan?” When Duke nodded, she asked, “Did you figure out what’s been bothering him?” 

“He fell for Dinah and leaving her behind has been eating at him,” Duke told her honestly. He didn’t keep secrets from his wife unless explicitly asked, and even then he usually still told her anyway and just swore her to secrecy on it. 

“Oh,” Audrey said with wide eyes. “Why didn’t he just ask her to come back here with him once her village was saved?” 

“He was afraid she’d say no. Not want to leave her whole life behind,” Duke told her. 

“What’d you tell him,” she asked draping herself across his lap and snuggling into his arms. 

“I told him about our rocky past. When you stood me up the first time I asked you out and then I pushed you away when you tried to choose me. Tried to show him that rejection wasn’t always final. As long as she knows how he feels and what he wants, she can always change her mind later and she knows how to find him.” 

“That’s actually really good advice,” Audrey nodded, giving him a proud kiss. “I had almost forgotten about all that drama with us though. It was a lifetime ago.”

“Actually it was more like twenty lifetimes ago give or take,” Duke chuckled.

She laughed and gave a playful smack to his chest. “You know what I mean.” 

“And I love you even more now than I did all those years ago,” Duke said with a grin, pulling her in for a long kiss. 

“And every day of the last thousand years I’ve loved you more than the day before,” she said lovingly before kissing him again and he carried her to bed. 

Duke knew when Nathan had decided and what he’d decided because he’d watched his son’s mood go from downtrodden, to distracted after their talk, to full of nervous energy as winter came to an end. He did stick around and help get the fields planted though, feeling bad about missing all the work that went into the harvest last fall. As soon as that was done, he told his parents he was leaving for a while and would be back in two weeks. 

Those that hadn’t figured out why, were confused. Nathan never went travelling without Gloria. They were twins and had always been joined at the hip. The figured it out though when Gloria pulled him into a hug and told him, “Go get her Nate.” 

“You mind if I take both cats? If they both want to come anyway,” Nathan asked her. 

“Well, you can’t really carry her and all her belongings back here with one can you?” Gloria laughed and gave him a playful shove. 

It was Duke’s turn to hug him proudly. “You let her know…if she’s worried about it…that we will /all/ welcome her with open arms,” he told his son before clapping his back and letting him go. 

“Thanks Dad.”

“You be safe and hurry back,” Audrey said as she hugged him too. 

“I will, Mom,” he said with a nervous smile before whistling for the cats. It took a little while to get them loaded up with both sets of saddlebags and two barrels on Hercules while he rode Sheba with the backpack barrel that Dinah had given them filled with fruit. Both cats were also in their armor since they were going into spider country and weren’t taking any chances and then he was off. 

Dinah had gotten the book written in a month and a copy made for herself. It had taken another two weeks to work with Janna to get all the illustrations right and there were quite a few of them, from full depictions of the horses to the entirety of Eden as it was now rather than the distant past, and there were a few of Haven, both the current ruins and filled in with what it would have looked like still standing. She played the pan flute once a week in the tavern and it was hit. Especially once word got out that she’d gotten it from the great bard himself who had personally taught her to play it. Her prolonged contact with their gods had made her extremely popular and she was asked for stories time and time again, and she usually obliged. Partially because there wasn’t much else to do in the winter and partially to remind herself that it hadn’t been a dream. 

Despite her newfound popularity and respect, she still cried herself to sleep most nights, clutching the long bearskin cloak that she now used as a blanket. She hadn’t thought it was possible to miss Nathan as much as she did. She missed them all really. Gloria’s wry wit, Duke’s geniality, Audrey’s mothering of everyone that sat still long enough, Sarah’s compassion, Wade’s creativity, but mostly she just missed Nathan. She even considered leaving more than once. Going back once winter was over. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she didn’t know if she would make it this time. She’d barely made it last time and she’d had a lot of luck on her side and the idea of dying without ever seeing Nathan again wasn’t something she even wanted to think about. Despite the fact that she knew it would probably happen anyway. She could live with being turned away. Because at least then she could see him one more time. 

As the village got back to normal and everyone came together for planting, she put on her normal cheerful mask and went about her day. It was a lot harder now that she would out of the house more and had to hold it for longer, but she managed. Only her best friend was able to see through her masks and she was worried about her, but had no idea what she could do about it. It was almost a month after they’d finished planting when the whole village’s attention was drawn to the two giant cats jumping the walls and then slowing to a walk to allow people time to get out of the way. Dinah started racing for home as soon as word reached her, not being close enough to see it, hoping against hope that he had come for her. 

When Dinah saw him standing at her door and knocking on it, both cats standing behind him loaded with empty bags, her heart soared. “Nathan!” she called as she ran up to him. 

“Dinah,” he said with a happy sigh as he swung her around in a hug when she jumped into his arms. Once he put her down he let go, moving one hand to cup her cheek and leaned in, slow enough to give her a chance to stop him, before he pressed his lips to hers, not even caring about the applause that suddenly rang out around them. It was short and sweet and mostly chaste, but it just confirmed everything they had both been feeling. “I love you. Come back with me?” he asked hopefully, heart beating out of his chest. 

“Yes, I love you too,” she said with a happy grin pressing another short kiss to his lips. “Give me the rest of the day to say my goodbyes and pack up and we can leave in the morning?” she asked. If he wanted her to leave right this second and just leave everything behind then she would, but she would prefer the time if she could. 

“Perfect,” he let out a relieved breath. “If you want, I can start packing for you while you say your goodbyes?” he suggested, not wanting to spend too much time in public if it could be avoided. 

“Okay, that works,” she easily agreed, letting him into the house. 

Nathan grabbed both sets of saddlebags and the now empty barrels and set them inside before taking the cats to the temple to impose on their hospitality again. The high priestess had been watching with a happy smile and met him during the walk. “I hope it’s okay if they can stay in the temple until morning?” Nathan asked her. Normally he would let them loose to hunt, but in spider country he didn’t dare. They could easily get overwhelmed with numbers and be too far away to get help. Spiders weren’t a natural enemy of theirs which meant that they weren’t biologically equipped to deal with them. 

“Always,” she assured him. “We will see to their needs until you’re ready to leave.” 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. 

“She loves you,” the high priestess told him bluntly. She didn’t want to see her friend hurt if this was a simple whim of his. “She’s been pining since you left.” 

“So have I,” he said with a wry smile. “So much so that my Dad basically told me to come down here and get her or else,” he chuckled. 

The high priestess smiled as they entered the temple. “Then it’s good that you came back for her. Though I will miss her greatly regardless.” 

Nathan nodded, glad that her best friend approved at least. “I can imagine. We’ll try to find a way for her to visit from time to time if she wants.” He stopped short as he finished getting the armor off the cats and looked around. His two youngest siblings had been added to the mural along with the horses being featured more prominently. He decided not to mention it though, not really sure what to say anyway, and just promised the cats that he would be back for them in the morning and headed back to Dinah’s house.


	10. Chapter 10

Once there, he began by folding all of her clothes and placing them in the bag. He knew that she would seldom be wearing any of them. Even their normal summer outfits were heavier than the thin silk garments she had. He smiled when he saw that his cloak was still on her bed and packed it away as well. Next came all of her instruments that were small enough to fit in the bags, all appropriately packed to keep them from being damaged. He had enough experience with helping Wade pack such things to know how to do it. Finally, he took all of the drawings she had in frames and the few books she had and called it done until she got home at least. Everything else here he already had at home, but some of it may have sentimental value that she would want to take. 

That done, he went to the kitchen to make her a nice dinner, knowing that she would have had an emotional day and probably not be up for cooking. He may not be the best cook generally speaking, but he was good enough to get by. His father had seen to that. Duke had even made Audrey into a decent cook over the years. When she got home, tear tracks on her cheeks, he pulled her into a warm hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before leading her to the table where he had just finished setting dinner out. “Are you sure, you want to come with me? I mean, if you’re having second thoughts…”

“No,” she cut him off quickly. “No second thoughts.” She considered a minute before admitting, “I was even considering packing up whatever I could carry and making the trip up myself. Even if I got turned away…”

“I would never have turned you away,” it was Nathan’s turn to interrupt as he reach across the table to brush his hand down her cheek and she leaned into the touch as her eyes fluttered closed and she nodded slowly. Once they resumed eating, he told her, “I got all your obviously personal stuff packed, but I wasn’t sure if anything else here held sentimental value that you might want to take with us.”

“Yeah, there are a few things. I’ll get them packed up after we eat. Thank you for dinner.”

“I didn’t want you to have to worry about it,” he told her. 

Once they finished eating, he cleaned up while she went to get the last few things she wanted to pack, the first one she pulled out of the cabinet beside him. “I made this when I was little. I called it a cup flute,” she chuckled and then demonstrated. “It doesn’t sound very good and it works as a cup even worse, but the sound has a different tone depending on how much liquid is in the cup.” 

Nathan laughed as she put it in the bag. “You should show it to Wade. He’ll get a kick out of it and who knows. Maybe it’ll inspire him to improve on the design.” 

“I don’t know,” she said with an embarrassed shrug. “It’s kinda dumb. I was only seven.”

Nathan shook his head amusedly and told her, “You should see some of his failed experiments from when he was a kid. Or even now. He still has the occasional dumb idea.” 

Dinah laughed and said, “Okay, maybe,” before she started moving through the house and grabbing a few other things including a blanket her mom had made for her and a few things of her sister’s. By then it was getting late and she started getting nervous wondering if she should invite him to sleep with her or not, but he solved that dilemma by kissing her softly and telling her that he would sleep in the spare bedroom. He wanted their first time to be in /their/ home when they could take the time to truly enjoy it and that just made her love him even more. 

The next morning, she cooked breakfast while he went to get the cats and get them loaded up with the refilled water barrels and all the now full bags. “Do you think you can ride alone or would you rather ride with me?” he asked, so that he could decide how to distribute things. 

“I’d be too scared to fall off alone,” she told him honestly. Getting to hold him the whole way would just be a bonus. He gladly accepted that answer and loaded up all the stuff on Sheba and they would ride Hercules. They ate quickly before setting off, this time out the gate since someone was there to open it for them. 

During the trip back when they stopped for the night, they slept in each other’s arms, but that was all, aside from a few chaste kisses here and there. He was too afraid that once that floodgate opened, he wouldn’t want to stop and he was /not/ having their first time on the floor of a dirty cave with the cats watching. 

Once they got back to the clearing almost two weeks after Nathan had left, they were met with hugs. Dinah more so than Nathan since it had been longer since they’d seen her and they wanted her to know that she was welcome. While she was being introduced to the siblings that she hadn’t met yet, Nathan got everything unloaded from the cats and taken into the house to put away later. It was almost dinnertime by the time they arrived, so they all sat down at the long outdoor table for a nice dinner before Nathan went to show Dinah around her new home and they ended up in the bed, deciding to worry about unpacking tomorrow. 

Dinah ended up slotting right into their lives, getting along well with everyone, even the standoffish Caspian when he came home for a visit as summer started. It wasn’t long after that when Duke took Nathan aside to talk to him. “Listen, about a hundred years ago or so Cas went to look around the neck, wanting to see where your mom and I spent our first few weeks here. We’ve kept this to ourselves since then, not wanting any of you kids to get any ideas, but…there’s still a small vein of Aether in the back of the caves there. Probably the original source of it.”

“Where are you going with this?” Nathan asked confused. All he really knew about the Aether was that it had poisoned Earth. He was too young at the time to remember using it to make Hercules and Sheba immortal with it. 

“If you wanted to link yourself to Dinah, the way your mother did with me, and make her immortal, and possibly bear immortal children…there should be enough there for that,” Duke told him. “Now this is a permanent commitment, so take some time to think about it before you talk to her about it and make her take the time to think about it too.” He knew that they hadn’t been together long, but could tell that they would make it for the long haul. That didn’t mean they should rush into anything. The main reason he was telling him now was because he knew how heavily losing his children to old age had weighed on Nathan and he wanted to catch him before they decided to have any now. To give him another option. 

“Would that make us only able to have one child every fifty years too?” he asked. That would also be a factor to consider. He knew how much his parents wished that all their kids didn’t have to be only children. At the same time though, he wouldn’t have to watch his children grow old and die. 

“Most likely, yeah,” Duke told him. 

“Okay…I’ll have to think about it,” Nathan said with a nod. “Thanks for letting me know about the option though.”

“I’ll be letting your brothers and sisters know too the next time they find someone,” Duke told him, getting a nod from his son. 

It was three years later when Nathan and Dinah borrowed the Grey Gull and headed to the neck as they’d shortened the Earth name to, and completed their link, disgusting as it was. And a year later they had their first child. Their son wouldn’t have to grow up alone though since Duke and Audrey had decided to wait for them before having another one themselves. He would get to grow up with his aunt who ended up being a month younger than him.


End file.
